PHONICS
INTENT
At Kingswood Primary School we are passionate that all learners become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that phonics provides a foundation for early reading and writing that supports the transition to fluent readers and writers easier. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme.
We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. Through the systematic, daily teaching of phonics, we aim to develop strong phonetic awareness of effective blending and decoding skills. In focussing on the early development of ready and writing, these fundamental skills will enable pupils to access our broad and balanced curriculum more readily.
IMPLEMENTATION
Foundations for phonics in Nursery
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We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:
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sharing high-quality stories and poems
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learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
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activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
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attention to high-quality language.
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We ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.
Daily phonics lessons in Reception & Year 1
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We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
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Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
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We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
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Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
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Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
Daily keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read
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Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
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We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and Year 3 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics screening check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Keep-up resources – at pace.
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If any child in Year 3 to 6 has gaps in their phonic knowledge when reading or writing, we plan phonics ‘catch-up’ lessons to address specific reading/writing gaps. These short, sharp lessons last 15 minutes and take place at least three times a week.
IMPACT
Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify additional support as soon as they need it.
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Assessment for learning is used:
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daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support
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weekly in the Review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.
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Summative assessment is used:
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every six weeks to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.
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Statutory assessment
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Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics screening check. Any child who does not pass the check re-sits it in Year 2.
Links for parents & carers
How to say Phase 2 sounds Autumn 1
How to say Phase 2 sounds Autumn 2
The Little Wandle website has a wealth of knowledge for parents and carers, you can find resources here.